


Agent Nika Romanoff-Fury of SHIELD

by chickennuggetmoney



Category: Black widow avengers, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-22 14:55:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30040422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chickennuggetmoney/pseuds/chickennuggetmoney
Summary: Hi this is the first chapter in a new work I'm doing, not really sure where it's going to go, but it's the story of Natasha meeting a four/fifteen yr old assassin who lives on a rooftop (that's all I've got so far) - Enjoy!PS I used google translate (eesh I know) for the bits in Russian and Croatian so sorry if they aren't perfect!
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Natasha stood on the dirty street corner, taking bites out of a sandwich and simultaneously scanning passers by and planning the next battle in the elaborate prank war, she made a mental note to ask Shuri how many nerf bullets to the eye the average Barton could take, tossed her sandwhich wrapper in a nearby bin and started to walk away.

She heard a noise. Most people would have dismissed it as general street babble but Nat was a spy. A fighter. she knew what the noise was. She turned around and slinked down the alley, slipping into a niche in the wall and surveying the scene in front of her. 

six boys were standing next to a girl, she saw the glint of a knife and one of the boys was sneering and muttwring something. Usually she would have intervened in a heartbeat, but something held her back. She realised that it was the girl. 

She had lightning white hair, pale skin and white eyelashes, she must have albinism, the condition that made people like moonlight, Nat thought. She was dressed in a way that would have looked stupid on another person, but somehow it just made the girl’s ethereal beauty shine through. She had bare feet, but for bloch foot gloves, wore cargo trousers faded to grey-kahki and a thin white sleeveless shirt. her abdomen was bound in a leather corset style belt, her hair braided back in twirls and knots, a jet black pin slicing through the ivory locks. She was facing down the group, but what held Nat back was the look on her face, the way she was holding herself. 

She wasn’t scared. She was standing straight up, arms crossed, almost lounging against the shadows as the boys got increasingly more frustrated, making threats in rapidly rising voices, but this just made the girl smirk even more. They made their move as she was bent over, hands on knees laughing at them, and Nat got ready to spring to her defence. 

But the girl reacted like lighting, she threw herself forward with well–practised ease, falling into a beautiful and deadly rhythm, she fought with a fluidity that Natasha recognised, that of a person trained in ballet. Trained to the limit. And further. She had all the boys incapacitated in seconds, dusting her hands off and shaking a lock of hair that had come loose off her face. She wended her way between the groaning lumps of flesh and before Nat had registered it she was standing inches from her. 

‘Дерьмо’ cursed Natasha, barely audible as the girl raised an eyebrow. 

‘я бы посмотрел на твой язык. и спасибо за помощь’ i would watch your tongue. And thanks for the help back there’ the girl said back, perfect Russian, only a faint accent biting at her vowels, Croatian if she was right

‘činilo ti se da ti ide savršeno dobro. Hrvatski da?’ she replied, switching languages with ease

You seemed to be doing perfectly well. Croatian yes?

‘tako da je istina. crna udovica nikad ništa ne propušta. impresionirao sam natasha’ so it’s true, black widow never misses anything. I’m impressed Natasha. 

Scoffed the girl, comfortable in whatever language took Nat’s fancy. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen, even shorter than Nat, but somehow she made Nat respect her. Even be wary. 

‘you know you trained me. Or rather, I trained by watching you’ she laughed matter of factly, switching back to English and backing away, gesturing Nat to sit opposite her, not blinking at the filthy ground. She leaned back against the alley wall, her forearms slung loosely across her knees and looked up at Nat, who sat down too. 

‘I used to sit outside people’s windows and watch you fight on tv. Then I copied your moves. I think I fell a little bit in love with you’ she stated casually, scratching the back of her neck. 

‘so long black widow’

She shot up, swinging up the blank stretch of wall and disappearing in the blink of an eye. At the speed of lightning. 

But Natasha was Black Widow. She leapt up and scaled the wall after the girl, sprinting across rooftops after the swish of lightening hair. She caught up as the girl stopped abruptly on one rooftop. It was flat, a knee high rim running around the edge. The girl paused, not turning around, and her posture dropped an inch. She laughed and spun round. 

‘Seems like you don’t like goodbyes Natasha’ she teased, walking slowly towards Natasha and pulling the pin from her hair as she did so, it fell down to her waist, a glimmering cloak of ivory. She reached up, stretching her arms and sat down on an old deck chair cushion propped up against the edge of the roof. 

‘tea?’ she asked, gesturing to an old tin kettle over a glimmering fire and a bucket of rainwater

‘although I don’t have tea so I guess just water’

‘no’ said Nat lightly

‘So you’re homeless?’ 

‘No. This is my home’

The girl sounded a little defensive, but brushed it off with a smirk and a raise of her eyebrow

‘Different to yours hmm?’

‘a little’ replied Nat, nodding and looking around. 

‘you should go. You don’t want to be seen with the likes of me’

‘what’s your name’

‘Mary’

‘is that your real name?’

‘no’

She stood up and took a knife, wooden handle, rusty stained blade. Nat stiffened, but the girl just took a rag and started to wash it, gleaming drops of pink rolled off the edge, coursing down her white forearms. 

‘Why wouldn’t I want to be seen with you’

‘where do I start’

‘at the beginning’

‘Touché. I’m an orphan’

‘so am I’

‘I’ve never been normal’

‘neither have I’

‘I’m a bit of a bully’

‘so am I’

The girl laughed at Nat’s unblinking answers. 

‘and the big clincher I guess.’ Laughed the girl lightly, taking a shining pistol from underneath her cushion.

I’m an assassin.’ 

She looked into Nat’s eyes. Green locking with pink. 

Silence, for a second

‘So am I.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romanoff mark 2

‘Hey Tash’ Nat spun around, coming face to face with Fury; she had been submitting case files at SHIELD and visiting Ria and she was just about to leave. 

‘Yeah – god don’t tell me you need more filing done I swear to God Nicholas I will…’

‘nope no, no filing – we just bought in the assassin on that huge case you were following – they’re asking for you’. 

Nat waited until Fury had turned away and commenced with a silent victory dance

‘Dance needs work – thpught you were trained in ballet’ called Fury goadingly over his shoulder, then sprinted down the corridor. Nat caught up with him in a few strides, snapped his eye patch back and let go to it hit him in the fasce, then before he could retaliate, threw open the door to the interrogation room. 

She stopped and her stomach gave a small flip. She shivered, blinking in case it was her imagination, but sitting there, clear as day was the girl. The lightening and moonlight. The assassin. And she was staring defiantly right into Nat’s eyes. 

‘Nice of you to drop in Natasha’ 

‘God not another one romanoff – how do you know this one’ hissed fury. He had sighed deeply and dragged her from the room, the girl bursting into fits of laughter. They could still hear her wheezing and snorting through the thick glass

‘I don’t fury I swear I don’t – I met her once, she was fighting off some muggers and I thought she needed help but she didn’t, she ran away and I followed her and we talked for a bit and that’s it – I swear I didn’t know she was that assassin’

‘wait. That assassin…YOU MET A TRAINED KILLER AND JUST LEFT THEM?! Oh god romanoff I thought you were changed’ he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

In a flash Natasha had him pinned up against the wall by his throat. Her emerald eyes bore into him, flaming with ferocity and anger. 

‘Don’t. you. Dare. You know why. I won’t waste breath. She is a kid she lives on a rooftop ..and. fine. She reminded me of me so I let her go. What kind of hypocrite would I be if I condemned her for that -I still have that red mark on my leger – so maybe I can help her make hers fade.’ She dropped him in a heap on the floor and leaned back against the corridor wall, one foot making muddy marks on the white paint that made Fury wince. She crossed her arms. 

‘look. We know she was hired to kill those people, we don’t know how they made her do it. But I do know she’s a fighter. She fights hard and she fights well. She learned from the best. You recruited me..or technically Clint did but anyway, I want to recruit her. I want to give her another chance because what kind of lifw would I have now if you hadn’t given me the chance. Come on fury offer the kid a satruday job.’ 

The ghost of a smile flickered across Fury’s face. He sighed and threw up his hands

‘fine I trust you instinct. But romanoff if this comes back to bite me in the ass I swear to your god that you are…fine not out because you’re my best agent but there will be consequences. ‘ 

‘how sweet. Now lets go back in’

Fury threw open the door and stood threateningly in the corner of the room while Nat sat on the table and spoke to the girl. 

‘okay so we’re going to give you immunity on a few conditions. ‘

Silence

‘first you have to tell us your actual name’

Silence

‘then you also have to tell us who hired you for those murders’

Silence. 

‘and you have to come work for us’

‘What the motherfu…’

‘language’ shouted Caps voice from thin air and the girl jumped. 

Nat laughed and patted her on the head. 

‘this lot gave me a second chance when I was an assassin and it was the best thing that happened to me. It’s hard and will push you to your limits but I think you’re the kind of girl who likes that.’

‘sounds good. Why do you trust me though. You said ut yourself – I’m an assassin – I have..red on my leger I think you said?’ 

Simultaneously freaking out and marvelling at the girl’s extraordinary ability to hear stuff through solid walls, Nat raised her eyebrows

‘I never said that. He did. Technically. And no I don’t trust you…yet. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a second chance. But no weapons while you’re training and…guess who will be training you.’ 

She threw up her arms theatrically and the girl sighed. 

‘well technically it’ll be me, my kind of half sis/bro and danvers but anyway.’

The girl looked up at Fury, bit her lip and nodded. 

‘go on then. Could be fun.’


	3. Chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> names

‘okay so in the spirit of moving on, starting a new life all that sentimental shit, SHIELD will create a new identity for you, you can keep your name or change it but I have to tell you changing mine was one of the best things I did; every time someone says it you remember how much your new life means and I know that sounds like the corniest thing in the world but I swear it feels amazing’

‘wow.’ Said the girl, arms crossed, an eyebrow raised at the small redhead and her gesticulating. 

‘alright ummm….any ideas?’

‘Sarah’

‘nope’

‘umm…billie?’

‘I am not six’

‘isabella’

‘too common’

‘lily’

‘too girly’

‘how about Nika’ said Fury from the shadows. Both women jumped, having forgotten he was there and the girl looked thoughtful

‘nika…I like it…and a surname?’

‘oh we know that already. You’re a romanoff’ laughed Nat

‘I adopt all kinds of waifs and strays – you can come live at the tower with all the other assholes’

‘I am a trained assassin. I sleep on a rooftop. I was hired by a guy who threatened to literally cut off my fingers if I failed him and that offer scared me the most out of anything in my life’

‘yeeeaaaahhh sounds about right. But you’re gonna love the Belovas’ snorted Nat. 

‘Hey romanoff….the old one….she’s gonna have to be de-programmed and retrained before you can adopt her so you can see her in three weeks when that’s over.’ Chimed in Fury. The women sighed but Nat shook Nika’s hand, ruffled her hair and went to walk out of the door

‘oh and in spirit of full disclosure and no secrets..’ called Nika, Nat turned around. 

‘I’m a she today but I may not be tomorrow’ she raised an eyebrow, wrenched her hand out of the handcuffs so the chain snapped and hung limply, and held up her wrist. A ragged red band was visible. 

‘you really are going to love the Belovas’ nodded Nat, smirking and walking out of the door

‘see you in three weeks Nika’ she called without turning round, and left Fury with the girl.


	4. Chapter four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meeting the Belovas

Three weeks later, Nat was waiting outside SHIELD, the sky growing steadily darker, showing the late hour against the summer skies, holding two coffees, a bagel and a small box. She didn’t recognise Nika at first as she came out, guided by a junior agent towards Nat. She looked so different; her white hair cut short and tied in two simple plaits that nudged the top of her shoulders, a black lipsticked smirk and a black polo neck and jeans atop black dms. This girl really loved black, nat reflected, and waved her over. 

‘life juice and fuel’ she laughed, handing over the coffee and bagel, and tossed the box toward Nika, marvelling at her ability to catch three things and not throw coffee everywhere…more than she could say for most of the idiots she knew. 

Nika held up the box qyestioningly and nat gestured for her to open it; she drew out three braided bracelets, green red and pink. 

‘thought yours could do with an upgrade you know those those are fiddly as shit so sorry they aren’t that neat…’ but she was cut off as Nika leaned forwards and hugged her awkwardly. Nat , although usually a hug-me-and-get-a-tracheotomy-person, hugged her back, somehow knowing that this would be the first hug the girl would ever have had, and wanting it to be a good one. 

After standing awkwardly for a few seconds, they broke apart, and Nat opened the passenger side door of her truck for Nika, jumped in and turned the key. 

‘into the belly of the beast’ she muttered, pushing a grudging Nika forward through the doors. 

‘Hey FRI this is Natasha approving access for..’

‘I’m sorry that name is not in my system, try using a different one

‘okay…russian spidermum?’

‘no’

‘crazy assassin?’

‘no’

‘cuckoo lady with too many guns?’

‘bingpot’

‘great then this is cuckoo lady with too many guns approving access for Nika Romanoff’

She dragged a confused looking Nika through the scanner and into the lift, then through corridors and into a kitchen

‘hey Belovas’

‘hiya nat’ called out two people without looking up. One was sitting on top of a cupboard, sharpening a knife, and the other one had papers spread over three tables, violet hair spiky and ruffled. 

‘anything I can help with?’ asked Nat, leaning over to look at the papers

‘atomic structure homework from Scott, five thousand words on to kill a mockingbird and something to do with that, agents exams from Fury, Decoding work from Fury, paperwork for the twenty seventh street bust from Fury, insurance documents from Fury and mission plans from the one and only..’

‘Fury?’ asked Nat, looking mildly alarmed at the list

‘got it in one’ groaned the person, jumping up onto the seat of their chair and lobbing some paper into the bin, then toppling backwards. 

Nika leapt forwards and caught them in a bridal-style hold. 

‘who dis?’ asked the person, looking confusedly up at Nika. Now she could see them, Nika realised that they couldn’t have been much older than she was, maybe sixteen, with purple eyes and matching hair. She dropped them abruptly, then leapt back apologising as they swore profusely and got up

‘jesus if I didn’t have metal bones I think I’d have a shattered pelvis by now’ they groaned, and took her offered hand as a help up. She noticed a red band on their wrist, her hand straying curiously to her own, and a small tattoo, a semi-colon

‘hey I’m henri – nat’s….kind of sister it’s all a bit confuzzling’ henri laughed, sticking out a hand to Nika to shake, then flopping down on the chair again

‘nika – new SHIELD recruit…also possibly accountable for some of that paperwork sorry…how are you working for fury I mean you must be like sixteen?’

‘oh yeah I am actually I’m just a young recruit – pretty sure its just slave labour though’ they laughed good-naturedly….it was the prettiest laugh Nika had ever seen. Which she soon realised and pushed away. 

‘umm you said..’

‘Metal bones?’

‘yeah’ replied Nika lamely

‘too long a story for tonight – I have a shitton of stuff to do and a lot of stress baking to come but hi – I’m henri…think I already said that….GAH PAPERWORK IS ROTTING MY BRAIN’

Nika laughed nervously and sat down, pulling Henri’s atomic structure and essay towards her and starting to write. Henri looked up

‘you are a literal angel’ she groaned, kissing Nika on the top of the head and turning back to the files. 

Nat and Yelena swapped evil grins, and backed out of the room slowly, leaving the two girls to their work. 

About five hours later, Henri threw down her pen, threw her arms in the air in celebration and toppled backwards, waking Nika with a shriek and a thwack of knives

‘ARGH KNIVES DOWN’ Henri yelled, clambering back up nursing bruises and shaking her head like a dog

‘god you take after my sisters’

‘sorry you just freaked me out’

‘nah really don’t worry – we all do that, but you kind of get used to waking up to explosions here’

‘okaay’ sniggered Nika confusedly, handing over a sheaf of paper

‘homework’s done’

‘you are amazing and…wow you’re a good forger’  
‘I have many hidden talents’ laughed Nika, twirling a pen in her fingers but stopping when she realised she was borderline flirting with the cute SHIELD agent.

She stretched her arms, rolling her neck and yawning

‘soo..umm bad at small talk – why don’t you tell me something about you?’ she said, voice muffled by her hands covering a yawn

‘okay…umm..i’m henri, I’m sixteen, I go to the same school as Red, who you’re probably going to meet tomorrow..along with Spidey, Em, Val, the works..prepare yourself. I bake when I get stressed, love Greys anatomy, am in the gym A LOT urmmm…wow I’m a lot less interesting than I thought I was….errrmmmm I’m Black wolf – part of the avenger team but I don’t really use the name aannndd….oh god I really can’t think of anything…oh yeah I’m genderfluid – what the wristbands are for’

She laughed and got up, stretching, then pulled down ingredients from the cupboard

‘stressed?’ asked Nika

‘Nah just hungry – fancy some pancakes?’

‘sure’

‘so am I going to find out anything about you or..’

‘oh right yeah well I’m nika – said that earlier, ha still getting used to the name, I’m sixteen I think – pretty sure, apparently SHIELD’s youngest recruit, genderflux – I had wristbands but they fell apart so I have new ones now – courtesy of romanoff, but I just use girl pronouns – it’s easier, but I’m starting a new life here so I don’t really have anything else to say – not really sure who the new me is yet’

‘well…’ said Henri, digging two disgusting looking green smoothies out of th fridge

‘let’s drink tot hat then; to a new life…it tastes better than it looks I promise’

When they had finished the midnight pancake fiesta, Henri dragged Nika up to the roof. She sat down on the edge beckoning the moonlight girl to join her, and looked out over the skyline. 

‘it’s a great place to think up here – or just get peace and quiet, secret prank meetings the lot…I basically sleep up here – just is better for me.’

She lay back on the roof, pointing out constellations, stars, the people she imagined them as, until Nika sat up and turned to face her

‘when you fell over before…the first time.. I noticed you had a tattoo I was just wondering…well what it was’ she said lamely. 

Henri’s violet eyes flicked away

‘no pressure I mean if you don’t want to tell me’ gabbled Nika, cursing herself for interrupting’

‘no it’s ok – you’ll find out eventually…Red has ine too, iris, it’s…kind of..ugh I can’t explain it without the whole story. ‘ she sat in silence for a few seconds then spoke

‘The reason I’m black wolf is that I was an experiment, and..long story shprt, I was rescued before it was over but they changed so much of me, I felt like I wasn’t in control anymore. So I jumped off this roof. But I survived. Because of the metal bones. I tried to cut an artery, I wanted it over, but red found me in time and saved me. The tattoo is…I have depression, I still want to self harm sometimes. I still want to die sometimes. But if I had died that day, I wouldn’t have had all the things that have happened since, so, the semi-colon means what it means in writing, you could stop, but you chose to continue. And It helps. And I didn’t want to tell you that because now you’ll see me as the sad little girl when I’m not’ she finished quietly. 

‘I don’t pity you’ said Nika simply

‘I don’t pity you at all. I’ve had shit like that happen, and it made me stronger. So if anything I respect you more than I did before.’

Henri looked up, confused, like she had never had that reaction before, but Nika raised her eyebrows 

‘and I’ve slept on a roof for a lifetime so can you show me a bed I can sleep in?’ 

Henri laughed. The same beautiful laugh that Nika had seen before, her eyes sparkling with stars. 

‘sure – I think they have you in with me – never had a roommate before should be fun’ she jumped up, pulling Nika up with her and led her back inside.


	5. Chapter five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The danvers death sentence

Nika woke up next morning early. She stumbled out of bed, realised she had no clothes, and prodded Henri awake

‘I’m really sorry but can I borrow something to wear?’ she hissed. Henri groaned, dragged herself out of bed and thre some sweatpants and a top at Nika, before stumbling into the bathroom. 

Nika sat down at the small desk, squinted in the mirror and undid her plaits, letting her now-crinkly hair fall into waves around her face. She pulled it back into a ponytail and yawned, then changed at the speed of light and waited for Henri to come out of the bathroom, fully dressed in jeans and a shirt and wordlessly lead her downstairs. 

‘So given that you’re sixteen you can skip sixth form for an apprenticeship so you don’t have to bother with school, lucky bastard’ yawned Henri

‘Fury likes you in early so you should be in no later than seven, so you have a while, NAt’ll drop you off and you have to wear smart stuff so you can borrow that from someone else once they’re awake, I’ll take you to the gym in a minute, but don’t stay long because you’re doing the Danvers death sentence later and you need to keep your energy’

‘what’s the dan..’

‘you’ll find out soon enough’

Henri led her down to the gym and showed her the equipment, then went to go and get her textbooks while Nika looked around. 

Soon enough she was guided back upstairs by some mysterious voice from nowhere, and Nat came into the kitchen, handing her a dry cleaners bag with a black suit inside, and a hairbrush

‘go make yourself presentable Romanoff ‘

She ran back upstairs pulled on the suit, which she liked very much, and brushed her hair into something more neat. 

‘first day then agent romanoff. God that’s going to get confusing. You’re agent romanoff-Fury now. Hill will show you around,’ Fury stated, as a dark haired and slightly intimidating woman walked into the room, and waved to Nat

‘Sorry I didn’t come home last night – I was settling in Nika then Lena challeneged me to a game of go fish that I definitely shouldn’t have accepted’ said Nat worriedly. Hill laughed

‘Ha don’t worry kroshka, you’ll pay the price in paperwork. Agent Romanoff-Fury yes?’

‘that’s me’

‘good. Come with me’

She followed Commander Hill down corridor after corridor, repressing sniggers when she barked various orders at terrified junior agents, and into a small office with three desks

‘you’re way too junior for your own office but you need a desk for paperwork and shit so you’re sharing with the tardy turds. For future reference that’s Henri Belova who you probably met last night, they come in in afternoons bcause they’re still at school, Helena Walker who is genius at code cracking and technology but pretty much useless at anything else and Nick Evans who’s pretty good at everything but…shall we say slightly too cocky. That’s why I put him in with all the radical feminists. They’re all always late hence the name, but I expect you to prove yourself better than them. Remember where this room is, and now you have to go for a medical and a fitness assessment. God I’ve been looking forward to this; haven’t seen the Danvers Death sentence for months. Don’t let me down Agent.’

Hill strode from the room and led her downstairs to a training room, decked out with fancy gym equipment, and housing a few agents practising punches. 

Hill led her past the people, who tuened to stare, and up to a person with short vlond hair

‘Carol Danvers’ said the person, shaking Nika’s hand and cutting straight to the point

‘you’re working with SHIELD. Also closely with the FBI and the police. This means you need to be fitter than Olympic champions in both mind and body. This workout will determine how hard I have to train you. Basically, you will work till you drop. The record time is one hour and thirty seven minutes. Which was agent romanoff. Agent Belova lasted an hour and thrity six. So it’s tough. Most agents dfon’t last past half an hour, good ones make it past fortyminutes and exceptional ones can do an hour. Are you exceptional agent?’

‘isn’t that what we’re here to find out’ asked Nika

‘right in one. Let’s get started then.’ She threw spots kit emblazoned with an eagle in a circle at Nika, and five minutes later she was ready to go. 

And hour and a half later, Nika’s muscles were on fire, she was half dead, but already classed exceptional, and now determined to set a new record

Just five more minutes

Just four

Three

Two

One minute and she’s be tieing

Thirty seconds and she would have set a new record. 

She dropped at one hour and forty six minutes, unable to move, and the remaining agents either whooped or look mildly disgruntled. 

‘exceptional romanoff-hill.’ Remarked Carol

‘Now you lot – go carry her up to the med wing – I think she needs some IV fluids and glucose’ laughed Hill, patting danvers on the back. 

‘you bagged a good one there Hill’ muttered Carol as they packed up their things

‘a very good one’

‘I know. But tell that to Romanoff. She got her here. Has quite the nack for picking the best ones eh’


	6. Chapter six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting her office-mates

Nika sat grudgingly in a med wing chair for the rest of the day; she would have gone back to the cramped little office if she could, but they had insisted she stay hooked up to the iv and minitors to make sure she was ok. As far as she was concerned it was far too big a fuss for a workout. She had made her way through a mountain of NDA’s, induction paperwork and various sign ons to cases, when three people crashed through the door. 

She recognised one by his violet hair , blue wristband and leather jacket, and waved hello. The other two, agent Carter and Agent Evans, she assumed, were behind Henri. 

Agent Carter had buzz cut hair, perfect swooping eyeliner, a dark red shirt and black jeans, a gun holster and a badge clipped onto them, and a formidable look on her chiselled face. Agent Evans on the other hand, wore a scruffy hoodie, jeans, a shirt that looked like it hadn’t been washed for three weeks with the remnants of chilli sauce on, and beaten up grey sneakers. Agent Peralta had on an old leather jacket and his badge hung round his neck like John McClane in Die Hard and looked relatively good-natured. 

‘You survived the DDS then’ smirked Henri

‘May have set a new record too’ laughed back Nika

‘No way how long did you last?’ hissed Henri, plonking himself down on the bed next to Nika’s chair  
‘hour and forty six’

‘impressive’ came a voice from behind. It was walker

‘Helena Carter cyber team’ she said, holding out a hand to shake. Nika took it

‘Nika Romanoff-Fury – don’t have a specialty yet – wait carter as in Peggy carter’

‘my gran – taught me all I know’ laughed Carter

‘Absolute icon – I lived on a roof for ten years and still heard of her – she’s awesome’ laughed nika 

‘I’ll tell her you said so’

‘Assuming you two are Peralta and Evans’ she asked, raising an eyebrow

‘Mac Peralta’ said the leather-jacket-clad youth, stepping forward eagerly and shaking her hand. She surreptitiously wiped the mustard off on the seat of her chair and turned to Evans

‘My god evans be polite’ sighed henri, reaching out a hand covered in a violet glowing light and dragging Evans forward. 

‘pleasure to meet you’ said Nika sarcastically

‘My god please please tell me you’re a girl I don’t think I can stand anymore boys in my office’ groaned Carter

‘Liar – we’re evenly split – you and BElova versus me and Mac’ said Evans aggressively

‘Well if you paid any attention to your surroundings you’d know that today Agent Belova has betrayed me and sided with the males; and what does even numbers have to do with my machoness tolerance – even one of you would be far too suffocating – no offence peralta’

‘none taken’

‘well yeah you’ll be happy to know I am a girl…most of the time. But I’ll never side with the boys’ sniggered Nika

‘Genderflux’ she explained at the confused looks. 

‘Well I’m glad to finally have another girl and you need to tell me where you got your lipstick I’ve been looking for one like that forever’ moaned Carter  
‘initiation present from Fury – also where did you get your holster I love it’

‘oh I got it from my Gran – present for joining SHIELD’ replied Carter

They carried on chatting, Henri laughing uproariously, Peralta joining in when he could and Evans looking bored

‘Well anyway the reason we came was to say hi and to give you this’ said Peralta after a while, pulling a hastily wrapped parcel out of a backpack and handing it to Nika

‘Happy seventh birthday?’ she questioned

‘oh well the boys dumped it on me to wrap because obviously the fact that I have a uterus means that I’m the only one capable of doing a domestic task’

‘amen’ laughed Nika

‘and this was the only thing I had at home so sorry’

‘I would just like to interject that the reason I couldn’t do it was not hyped up masculinity but the fact that my stupid boyfriend needed help with his stupid homework and so I had to stay up all stupid night helping him’ chimed in Henri. 

Oh. Nika thought. He had a boyfriend. Oh well. Maybe that was fate – after all, agent Carter was extremely pretty…

She looked down the the present in her hands and unwrapped it, pulling hard at the Sellotape that seemed to cover every square millimetre of the paper

‘I heard that it was going in Mac’s bag for the day so I had to Peralta-proof it’ explained Carter

‘ohh right’ laughed nika, and pulled a 30 part swiss army knife out of her back pocket, drawing admiration from the other agents, and hacked away the paper. 

It was a desk sign, like the ones you would get in a smart office telling you who worked there, that said Agent Nika Romanoff-Fury SHIELD agt. 

‘haha thanks guys – that’s amazing’. 

‘Well we’ve been told to take you home and Belova owes us some dinner given that we had to cook for her last time she came to our flat, so we’re all going to take you back.’ Said Carter, pulling on a kahki suede biker jacket and tossing Nika her suit jacket. Henri helped her up, waited a second while she howled at her stiff legs, then they all clattered out of the door.


	7. Chapter seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting the hooligans she now lives with

When they all got back to the tower, Henri approved them access, sighing at his AI title of ickle wickle glowing bean, and told FRIDAY to ask Stark about getting Nika a retina scan and an entrance tattoo. 

Lena welcomed them all except Evans, glaring at him threateningly whilst holding a taser, and told them that Carol was cooking so it wouldn’t be long

After a while seven other teen-ish age people came in, greeting the agents and hugging Henri. Nika realised that she must have missed them, arriving so late and leaving so early yesterday, and Henri started to introduce them

‘okay so this is Petey – the idiot boyfriend who couldn’t do homework, also spiderman,’ she laughed, ruffling his hair which made him flinch and jump up onto the ceiling laughing. Nika waved

‘this is Val, Brunhilde Valkyrie but if you call her that you will wake up with a sword sticking out of your face…although on reflection you probably wouldn’t wake up from that..she’s future king of Asguard and pretty good at fencing; she learnt from the best’ at this point Henri curtseyed and Val shook Nika’s hand, laughing

‘this is Red or Iris but we all call her Red because she’s Red Dawn, she did go to school with me but left last year the buggering traitor’ a girl wearing a tank top and jeans with scars all over her arms grinned from the kitchen island. 

‘Em, or MJ, she’s blue lynx – married to Shuri who’s over there – tech genius from Wakanda, that’s her head intern Alex, who is also friends with Red, and that’s Alex’s stupid little brother Nick who was dumb and got shot and I had to save his life’ reeled off Henri, rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at the boy who guffawed at his introduction. 

‘so that’s everyone – everyone this is Nika – she’s a new SHIELD agent, sixteen but not doing sith form the lucky bastard because she’s got an apprenticeship with fury, and current, as of today, record holder of the Danvers Death Sentence’ everyone laughed and wooped

‘hi’ sniggered Nika, tugging her hair out of its tight bun, everything pulled back to try and get every starnd of her newly short hair in, and shook her head, letting in fall back into a bob around her neck, and running her fingers through it, flipping it to one side. 

Dinner was a thoroughly enjoyable affair, along with being properly introduced to Carol, she met tony Stark, Dr Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers and discovered that Nat and Commander Hill were actually married and at their flat for dinner tonight with their toddler Alyona instead of the tower. 

She woke up at five again the next morning, tiptoed over to Henri to ask to borrow some gym clothes because she still only had smart stuff for work, and stifel a snort when she saw a note on Henri’s bedside table;

My alarm goes off at 6:15. Wake me before then and incur the wrath of a Belova. Workout clothes are on the desk – keep them, and if Val is making waffles come get me BEFORE the smoke alarm goes off

She bit her cheek to stop from laughing, then took a pair of sweatpants and a sports top from the desk and crept down to the gym. An hour later she trudged back upstairs and showered, then stole Henri’s hairdryer and got dressed. Henri was stirring as a loud beeping came over the AI

‘JESUS’ henri yelled, jumping up and sprinting out of the room, howling

‘I TOLD YOU TO GET ME BEFORE SHE DID THAT’

Nika followed in fits of laughter, and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the corridor as they entered the smoke bomb that was the kitchen. 

‘BRUNHILDE VALKYRIE YOU DO NOT LEARN’ screamed Henri as Nika let out the fire extinguisher with a ftshhhhhh, drenching Val in white foam. Nika dropped it and wiped her bow

‘morning’.


End file.
